


The First Domino

by weepingnaiad



Category: Star Trek (2009)
Genre: Gen, How did the Enterprise make it home so quickly, Jim Kirk is young but no less a BAMF, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-30
Updated: 2012-03-30
Packaged: 2017-11-02 18:00:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/371793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/weepingnaiad/pseuds/weepingnaiad
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What happened in the aftermath of the Narada and the destruction of Vulcan, before Jim and his ship could make it back to Earth?</p>
            </blockquote>





	The First Domino

**Author's Note:**

> **Beta:** My brain twin, abigail89. Thanks so much, m’dear!
> 
>  **A/N:** Written ages ago for this challenge: _Describe what happened after the moment of victory--immediately after, or the aftermath as it played out throughout the Federation._ on the LJ comm st11forxi. Lt. Cooperton’s cameo was with permission from LJ user rubynye.

*~*

Jim arched his brow at Uhura, but shrugged and stood, casual and unconcerned. “Patch the admiral into the ready room.” Never _his_ ready room, _the_ ready room. He still felt like an imposter in Pike’s clothes, never did understand why Spock had insisted he retain command. But here he was, Captain, at the helm of the badly damaged Enterprise, supporting the crew that managed to survive. And now, the brass were on the line and wanted to talk to _him_. Not Spock. Not Pike. James T. Kirk. _’Shit.’_

He dropped to the comfortable chair, stretched his legs under the desk and wished with everything he had that this wasn’t a secured call, that he could take it on the bridge, in full view of his crew. Somehow that’d make it all right. Even if they never said a word, he’d know he had their support, would feel it in the things unsaid. It’d only been one week and yet, they were _his_ crew and he didn’t want to hide from them, though he suspected that he was soon to be relieved of the notion that he was their captain.

Jim flipped the console on fully expecting to be instructed to report to the brig, or worse, for Cupcake - Matthews, he corrected - and his goons to show up and ‘offer’ to escort him there. Admiral Komack’s expression gave him no reason to doubt his suspicions, but he couldn’t have been more wrong.

Jim blinked at the blank screen, still numb and uncomprehending as he tried to wrap his mind around the news. It was too much and he dropped his head to his arms and shook, the copper taste of blood flooding his mouth as he bit his lip to keep from crying out. _’Fuck.’_

The five minutes he’d allowed himself passed all too swiftly and he lifted his head and took a deep, cleansing breath. He had to walk out there and somehow tell his crew what the admiralty needed from them without causing panic. He didn’t feel up to the task. He felt wrung out and empty, a dry husk instead of a living, breathing man. He swiped at irritated eyes and took two swallows of the ever present water Bones insisted he keep at hand.

_’Bones.’_

There was no choice now; that cold realization made him sweat. They’d made it through once, they could do it again - if they weren’t pushed over the edge. Jim squared his shoulders and pressed the comm. “Uhura, please have the senior staff and the department heads assemble in the largest conference room on the double.”

“Aye-aye, _Sir_.”

Jim still marveled at Uhura’s tone, that she could imbue such a small word with so much meaning. He clearly heard the _‘what the fuck’_ and the _‘I’m not your secretary’_ in that three-letter word, but he also heard the resigned _‘we’re in this together’_ and knew that everyone would be there.

Jim knew Bones was busy, that he had barely left sickbay for the past week, that he was running himself ragged, but no one else had died after the first few days and Bones was the majority of the reason. He was not going to like being forced to leave his patients. He’d be polite to Uhura, but he’d still refuse. So Jim pressed the comm button again. “Kirk to McCoy.”

“What the hell is it... _Captain?_ ”

Jim almost smiled. “You heard Uhura’s notice. I expect you there, Bones.”

“Is that an order?”

Jim did smile then. Bones’ sniping was familiar and as welcome as fog over the bay. _‘Damned stubborn, predictable bastard!’_ “Yes, Doctor. It is. You have five minutes.” He paused and took a deep breath. “Bones, I need you there. And you need to be there.”

He wasn’t sure if it was his tone, or if Bones just knew him well enough, but he heard the exaggerated sigh, could imagine the eye roll, and just grinned when he heard Bones’ answer. “Got it, Captain. I’m on my way.”

The comm disconnected and Jim took the few moments of silence to steady himself. Whatever happened, whatever was said, he had to convince everyone else that it would be fine, had to inspire confidence so that the message was spread throughout each department, down to every last crew member. They all had to believe.

~*~

Jim delayed an extra minute, gave his crew time to get settled, gave himself time to be calm, dispassionate, confident. The minute he stepped through the door into the conference room he was no longer the self-doubting, pained, overwhelmed cadet pretender to Pike’s throne. Even without the gold shirt, he _was_ the Captain.

“I know you’re all wondering what the brass could have said that merited taking you away from your duties. Before I answer that I first want to say how proud I am to be serving with all of you. Each and every one of you have worked miracles, done things that no one believed possible, given everything. And the brass knows it. I made sure of that.”

Jim had done that, but Admiral Komack hadn’t actually cared. He might have had more important things to deal with, but Jim had sent the report and confirmed that the admiral had received it. Hell, there was no way he wouldn’t fight for commendations for every crewman on board. No one had slept the first three days while they fought to get the ship stabilized and cobbled together enough power to keep life support and medbay from being compromised. After that, the crew was forced into rotation, but the senior staff only slept when Bones intervened, which was all too rare because Bones himself was consumed with his duties and knew that he had to practice what he preached before he bothered to call any of them out.

Jim looked around the room and licked dry lips. “Look, none of us have time for me to drag this out. The bottom line is that Starfleet is sending ships for us. We’ll rendezvous in two days. The _Jenner_ will be here to take all of the injured and medical staff on board.” He immediately held up his hand. “Not you, Bones. And I know that’ll piss you off, but Pike will be transferred to Doctor McCormick…”

“Teresa McCormick? Goddammit, Jim! She’s an infectious disease specialist! Not a neurologist!”

“Bones.” His tone shut down McCoy’s protest, but the doctor was livid. It didn’t take a genius or even a best friend to figure that out.

Jim continued, “The _Constellation_ and the _Exeter_ will take the rest of the personnel, even you, Scotty.” He shook his head. “No, none of us have any choice. I know you don’t like it, but those are the orders. The _Enterprise_ will be towed home by the _Cairo_ , but the senior staff are needed there sooner than that.”

He barely paused before finishing, “It’s up to each of you to get your staff organized, get them settled into shifts for the transfer. We’ll use all available shuttles as well as the transporters to make the transfers as efficient as possible.”

He allowed the chaos and the shouted questions; they all needed an outlet, but he had very little information and told them what he knew. He kept the confident air, but all the while he was shaking inside. It didn’t take long for the heated passion to fizzle out and the room grew silent, even Bones had no smart comment.

They’d all been through so much and it wasn’t over yet.

~*~

He took a deep breath and stepped onto the bridge. He was grateful for the unspoken concern, the narrowed eyes and furrowed brows on top of the already exhausted and worn faces. Everyone had questions and he had few answers, cold comfort after what had happened, but the crew all deserved to hear it at the same time.

He straightened, buried his own concerns, and sat down in his chair, projecting confident resolve. “Uhura, patch me through to the ship-wide comm,” he ordered.

“Aye-aye, Sir,” she answered.

“This is your acting captain. I have just received word from Starfleet…” a week late, but they had their troubles, too. It hadn’t helped that the _Enterprise_ had no comms array during the three days they fought to get her stabilized so that she stopped listing. Life support and medbay took priority over subspace. So what if the brass hadn’t replied right away? They sent word now, even if it felt _wrong._

“The medical ship, _Jenner_ , and two others, the _Constellation_ and the _Exeter_ will arrive at our position in two days for a rendezvous. All injured and medical personnel will be transferred to the _Jenner_ while the rest of the personnel will return home to earth aboard the others. The _Enterprise_ herself will be towed back to Earth.” He stopped, hating to end the ‘official’ message there, knowing how completely inadequate it was.

“You have been the best crew that any captain could ask for. It has been an honor serving with you.”

He stopped, knowing that there’d be more questions, but he had to finish, had to pretend nothing bothered him, that this was normal, to be expected, and _fine_ , even if it wasn’t.

“Keep working as you have been. You’ve all done phenomenal things, held the ship and each other together against stiff odds and you’ll get the break you deserve soon. Kirk out.”

Jim shut the comm off and was tempted to flee, but he took a deep breath, slapped his palms on his thighs, and looked around. “All right, I know you have questions. Get ‘em out now. The brass has given us our orders and we have two days to get everything ready, so I’ll listen, answer what I can, and then we’ll get back to it.”

Lieutenant Cooperton was the first to speak up and Jim was glad that someone _asked_. “What happened on Earth? I know we stopped the drill, but…” her worries were left unvoiced.

“It wasn’t pretty. The drill hit the fault off the coast, destabilizing the mantle. Not only has California been experiencing some pretty bad earthquakes, but Hawaii’s largest volcano blew its top and Japan was hit by a small tsunami. Panic has set in and they’ve instituted martial law just to keep the peace and keep people off the streets and away from damaged buildings.”

He stopped, still not sure he believed the next part, but repeated the admiral’s message anyway. “They need us at home. Right now we’re the only ship, the only people that know what the hell happened. They need our logs, our visuals, and our faces. In short, they need heroes to tell the story, to calm the fears, to soothe the people and help restore order.”

Privately, Jim thought that it was scary as all hell that the truth in this case was the best case scenario. Nero and the Narada and the destruction of Vulcan were nightmares - he still couldn’t say he had his head wrapped around what had happened - but nothing compared to the conspiracy theories and xenophobia running rampant in the face of the unknown. Terra Prime was fueling those fears, ramping up the hostility, fanning the flames and the Federation needed heroes to counter the threat.

The first domino had fallen and Starfleet was counting on them to stop the cascade.

The End


End file.
